Cross My Heart
by marykate3000
Summary: After the Titan War, a depression fell upon the campers, but only few were greatly affected by the war. Katie Gardner was one of them. Now at a mental hospital set up by the camp, Travis Stoll visits her reluctantly and the two finally get to talk after four months.


**Cross My Heart**

It's only been four months since the war against Kronos, four hellish months. New York is back to its old self and yet again the world is in peril. But they'll be alright; they have Percy and Annabeth to take care of it as well as those other demigods. The "chosen ones", the campers like to call them or the "big seven". It sounds like the campers are resentful of them, but really they're not.

It's a much needed break actually.

Also, it turns out that PTSD is a thing. Definitely not a good thing. The campers didn't think that something like that would happen to them; they were kids after all, teenagers in fact. Teenagers thought they were indestructible. They were teenager demigods for crying out loud! No puny human mental disability could touch them.

But it did.

Proving that they were only human.

It touched each of the campers in different ways of course, from mild to extreme. They didn't talk about the extreme cases though; they just silently cast them away to a mental facility where a bunch of Apollo kids took care of them until they were deemed okay.

Life went on that way.

Travis and Connor were part of the lucky majority to be mildly touched. They were able to continue running the show at the Hermes cabin and still withstood their trickster status. Not much changed about them unless you were studying them very closely. Sometimes they didn't eat as much or that they didn't make as much jokes anymore. There would be nightmares too but everybody at camp was like this so it didn't matter.

Katie Gardner, on the other hand, was one of the extreme cases.

When they got back to war, she was one of the first to break down. Travis remembers it clearly. It was in the middle of the night and there was a scream from the Demeter cabin. All the campers went outside but Miranda told them to go away and that she had the situation under control.

Travis, being the annoying person he is, stayed around to watch. It's not like he was actually concerned or anything like that.

"Travis, come on." Connor said, sleep heavy in his voice. "It's none of our business."

"Since when did you become Mom?" Travis teased, dragging his younger brother along. "Come on Con, lighten up!"

"Oh shut up." Connor teased back, giving up on his fight to return to their cabin. The two boys tip toed across the large U to the Demeter cabin and peered into one of the windows. Travis's eyes widened when he saw what was happening in there.

Katie was as pale as a ghost and was being cradled like a baby by Miranda. Her eyes were big and watery and something in Travis's heart wrenched up a bit. He didn't know why, but he had a thing for this bossy bitch.

"It's alright Katie," Miranda cooed. "We're here for you."

Katie didn't say anything back, which was rare for her because she couldn't keep her damn mouth shut. She just kept staring at the wall with a blank expression on her face. The poor girl was shaking and it looked like she was going to cut the blood circulation from Miranda's bicep.

"Why is she—" but Travis cut himself off once he looked over and saw that Connor wasn't there anymore. That traitor, leaving him when there was so much to learn for sleep. Travis huffed out in frustration but averted his attention to the sight inside the Demeter cabin.

"Maybe we should tell Chiron about this…" Justin, one of Katie's half-brothers whispered, running his hand through Katie's hair.

"He probably already knows about it." Justine stated, Justin's twin. "I mean the scream was pretty loud."

"Quiet you two," Miranda hissed, smoothing her hand along Katie's jaw. "Just get some sleep. I'll keep her company."

"But we should at least call her dad or something." A voice mumbled from under the covers. "He'd be worried."

Suddenly, Katie's gaze averted from the wall and his heart skipped a beat when her green eyes locked onto his. Travis flinched and ducked. Leaning against the wall, he started to scoot towards his cabin. Once he was a fair distance away he stood up and ran back into his cabin and jumped into bed.

He didn't sleep that night though, he was worried.

The next day, Travis paid close attention to the blonde girl. She was still as pale as a ghost and she would refuse to eat any of the meals that day stating that she didn't have the appetite. And of course, the Demeter kids suggested that she gardened for therapy but it soon spun out of control when she wouldn't leave the strawberry fields.

Miranda ran to Chiron asking what to do. Chiron suggested that she got diagnosed like the several other kids before her that acted strangely like her. So they sent her to some grown up Apollo kid who worked in the city and she came back diagnosed with PTSD.

When Katie's dad found out, he wanted her to come home to him so she could get treated at home. The only problem with that was that Katie lived all the way in Chicago and that it would be a problem transporting her home.

Travis was secretly glad when Mr. Gardener decided that she would go to the mental facility in Long Island set up by the Apollo kids. He didn't want Katie to be far from him.

It was a brisk fall day in camp and Travis watched as the younger demigods played in the freshly fallen leaves. He had just come back from that annoying charter school he was forced to enter and his uniform was undone like it usually was. Miranda walked by and made a snarky comment about on how he already looked like a drop out.

Travis scowled and told her, "At least I'm not some bitch." He let out a satisfied hum when Miranda shot him a dirty look. Ever since Miranda took Katie's place as Cabin consoler for the Demeter cabin, she's been more moodier than she has been before; which Travis didn't think could exist.

Everybody from the Demeter cabin hates his guts because they're just like their mother, moody and orderly while the children of Hermes are like their father, tricky and cunning.

"If you're planning to visit Katie by the way," Miranda shoots back. "You'd better do it soon. After seven they don't take visitors that aren't family." She glares at him for good measure. "But I'm not sure why you would though. She doesn't like you."

"Actually," Travis starts, smirking and enjoying the furious expression on her face. "I wasn't. I was just sitting here but you think that I have something with her. Well I don't."

She narrowed her eyes and lets out a sigh. Then her face softens. "You should though." Miranda sighs. "Ever since school started and a bunch of the campers went back home nobody has really been visiting her. Plus I need you to give her something."

He raises an eyebrow when she throws a small bag that's full of iced sugar cookies. "Made them in school," Miranda explained. "Now go messenger boy."

"Messenger boy?"

"All you're good for." Miranda says, back to her old self.

"I might just eat these." Travis calls as she walks away.

"No you won't!" she calls back.

And when she's gone he looks down at the small bag. Realization hits him. He actually has to go see her. What has he gotten himself into! Ever since she left he hasn't even bothered to tag along with his friends whenever they stated that they were going to visit the facility. And now he was going by himself!

The trip to the facility was a breeze. Walking out of the forest and into the town, he looked around and marveled at all the mortals. Their lives were so mortal and wondered what they did with their boring human lives. It was easy to answer but the lives of demigods were just so much more thrilling. Sure, they didn't live too long, but who needed to live until they were old and wrinkly?

Travis didn't want to have kids anyway. How could he be in charge of another life if he was hardly capable of managing his own? He'd be a really bad dad anyway. Travis didn't want a wife either. Women were tricky alright. He could flirt and tease and fool around with them all he wanted but actually getting into a committed relationship? Out of the question. Travis wasn't the type to stay in one place. Like his father, he had to move all the time, figuratively and not.

He boarded the subway and watched as several people went by. Travis liked to notice people who just passed by. I guess it was something he got from his father. Usually children of Hermes loved people. They loved looking and talking to these people, it was the best.

A couple of school children boarded the cart and they stood around him chattering away. One of them, a boy turned to him and said, "Eh, Mister! I can I have one of those?" Travis looked down at the bag as the other children joined along in the chorus. Out of generosity, Travis would have handed them the whole bag (being his father was the God of Beggars as well) but he remembered that he had a mission.

"I'm sorry," he replied, leaning in towards them. "They're for a friend."

"Well I'm sure your friend wouldn't mind." A girl piped up, grinning wolfishly at him.

"Well, she's sick and I promised her friend I would give them _all _to her." Travis laughed. Okay, he'll admit it. He likes children. He just couldn't actually take care of one from the roots up.

"Sick?" another one asked. "With what?"

Travis stared blankly at them. It seemed so personal to just tell the flock of children. "She's homesick." Travis replied. It was almost his stop soon and he was grateful for it.

"Homesick?"

"The worst kind of sickness." he insisted.

The children were obviously not satisfied with his answer but it became clear to them that he would not give them the cookies. "Hope your friend gets better." One of them said as the train slowed down.

Travis got up from his seat and looked down. "I hope so too."

He walked a few blocks north and took a deep breath as he stood in front of the business complex. The camp had somehow bought up the entire building and like magic (the Hecate kids helped out a lot) and a lot of help from the other campers it was ready in three days. Mortals only saw it as some boring insurance office so they wouldn't be bothered to even visit. He went through the revolving doors and he was greeted by the face of Sonny, an Apollo kid and a recent graduate from NYU. Once she found out a job position was open in the facility she jumped on the chance of work. A lot of other campers from the past flocked to the facility like moths to a flame.

"Hey Travis! Nice seeing you here!" she chirped. "Who are you here to see?"

"Um, Katie Gardner." He thrust out the cookies on the counter, feeling the need to explain. "Miranda sent me here."

Sonny flashed him a knowing grin and Travis scowled. "Okay Travis. Just sign here and wear this badge and you're all set." she chimed. "Just remember that by 7:00 you need to leave. Katie's room is on the third floor, room 309 on the left. You can't miss it."

He mumbled thanks and turned to the elevators. As the doors opened Sonny called out, "It's okay Travis! No need to be ashamed!"

Few things could get Travis to turn red, but this was one of those things. He jabbed the third floor button and the doors promptly shut. He looks down at the cookies again and he can't help but flip open the little note Miranda left for Katie.

_You better eat these! If you don't, I'll know and I'll come for you!_

_-Miranda xoxo_

Travis rolls his eyes at the note and the doors swing open and he steps out and waltzes over to Katie's room. He wasn't expecting the door to be open as he skids to a halt. His breath catches and something tugs at him.

Good Gods, she's _pretty_. He's always noticed that she was pretty but after four months of distance it hits him like a bus. She's sitting on the hospital bed in regular clothes just drawing pictures of flowers. It looks like he would be looking into a teenage girl's room if it wasn't for the pristine cream colored walls and the sanitary white tiles.

He reaches over and knocks on the door sheepishly and Katie doesn't bother to look up at first as she says, "Miranda, I told you that you don't have to visit me every—"

But then she looks up and shuts her mouth.

They have 30 seconds of awkward silence and he thrust out the package. "Miranda said to give you these."

She looks at them and her expression falters. "Come in I guess." she sighs. He sits on the chair next to her bed and she takes the package away from him. "She's got to stop giving me all these sweets. It's seriously become too much."

Just now he just noticed how thin she was. And sometimes Travis' thoughts blurt out and this is one of them. "You're so skinny." he says. She's taken off guard by this and stares at him.

"Isn't it usually the opposite?" Katie says slowly. "You would be mean and call me fat."

Suddenly Travis feels ashamed and he doesn't know why. "I was only joking Gardner, you know me." He says, a gentle tease in his voice.

Her big green eyes just gaze at him. It's not her usual glare which is odd. Everything about her is odd. "I swear Miranda has gone insane. Who is she going to send next? Drew?" Katie says, looking away from him and she opens the little bag and picks up one of the cookies. She takes a small bite out of it and frosting smears her lips and he can't stop looking at them.

Ever since he's taken an interest of girls at the ripe age of 12, he's always wanted to have a feel of her lips pressed against his. That would be nice if he could experience that once in his lifetime. Nothing else could happen; just that kiss and he'd be fine. Plus, her lips are just there. He could easily just lean over and lick the icing off for her.

"Cookie?" she asks. He's alarmed by her voice and averts his gaze away from her lips and down at the package.

"You're supposed to eat all of them." Travis interjected, a coy smile spreading across his lips. "Miranda's orders."

She gave him a glare and she was back to old Katie again. "Just take some, I know I won't eat them all." She huffed. Katie shoved the bag towards him and he dove in and grabbed a couple of cookies.

He had to give it to Miranda, they were pretty good. Being the teenage boy he was, he wanted to grab some more but he looked at how skinny she was now so he refrained. "No, like I said, Miranda will kill me." He laughed. "She's been even bitchier ever since you left."

Katie doesn't look at him when she says, "I didn't think people really noticed when I'm gone." She looks out the window and continues. "I mean, people always notice when the important people are gone like Percy and Annabeth. We're all just background characters."

"Nobody is not important," Travis says, and he has no idea where he's getting this from. "Everybody has noticed. Especially Miranda though. I guess she really misses you."

"Everybody?" she asks, a coy smile spreading across her lips. "If I was mistaken you're flirting with me right now."

Almost nothing could make Travis blush; nothing except for Katie. But this was his chance! An open window! He couldn't miss it! "Maybe I am," he replied, with the same coyness. But everything in his head was screaming, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Well if you are you're doing a horrible job at it." she mumbled as she returned back to drawing. "I mean really Travis."

He rolled his eyes just smiled. "But you know you like it." he said. "I mean why would you constantly yell at me if you didn't?"

"It's because you're an idiot." Katie replies, looking at him. "You drive me crazy and I should hate you but surprisingly I don't. It's a miracle you're still living after that incident with the chocolate Easter bunnies."

"You couldn't live without me Gardner," he laughs. "You'd have nobody to be mad at." Travis leans back in the chair and remarks how normal everything feels, and if it wasn't for the hospital room and the hospital bed it just felt like another day at camp where he'd be bugging Katie Gardner and she'd be screaming at him.

She raises an eyebrow at him but doesn't say anything else, which is rare for Katie Gardner. She always has something to say to this idiot.

"I don't get why you're still in here," he says, and it immediately feels like a mistake. "You seem okay."

She looks at him and shakes her head. "No… To be truthful, I'm not okay. But I'm getting better." she says. "I think I'll be back to camp in the summer though. They promised I would and maybe even earlier if I got stable enough just on pills I could go home." She looks like she's about to cry but she doesn't and Travis feels like running out of the room and hiding. He really was an idiot.

"I think you will," he says thickly. "I know you will because you're Katie Gardner, you're super bossy and you'd kick PTSD's ass."

This elicits a giggle out of Katie and his heart soars. "You're okay, Travis. You're okay."

They look at each other and smile. And oh gods, he wants to kiss her so bad and it looks like she's not going to object to it. He's about to lean in when the speakers turn on and through the crackle, a man says, "Attention all visitors. The visiting hours are coming to an end and you need to leave the building. I repeat, visiting hours coming to a close." He leans back into his chair and she slouches back onto her bed.

"Well I guess that's my call," Travis announces. "It was nice seeing you, Katie." He rises from the chair and he wishes that they were dating so it would be acceptable to just reach over and kiss her. But he can't because he feels this barrier between them. No matter how much he pushes he can't get through until she starts pushing too. Somewhere in Travis's mind he knows she won't start pushing until she gets over her own barriers.

And for once he understands.

He turns to leave but her voice calls out for him to stop. He turns and rests his shoulder against the door frame. She's looking at him with those big green eyes and he starts feeling a little dizzy from them. "You were there that night I had my first nightmare." she's silent for a moment before saying, "Thank you for being there."

He raises an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you remembered," he said with a nonchalant air. "I didn't actually think me stalking you helped at all."

"In more ways, it did Travis. Finally your stalking has come to use." she says. He can tell she wants to say more but she refrains. "You should come around here more often. Promise you will."

He's caught off guard by the promise but he draws an X over his left pectoral. "Cross my heart."

Travis Stoll couldn't keep a lot of promises, but this one he did.

* * *

**Note: I know Katie is not a year rounder but work with me.**


End file.
